No More Learning

"
E'en as she thus poured forth these words from anguish of bosom,
And for this cruel deed, distracted, sued she for vengeance,
Nodded the Ruler of Gods Celestial, matchless of All-might,
When at the gest earth-plain and horrid spaces of ocean 205
Trembled, and every sphere rockt stars and planets resplendent.
Meanwhile Theseus himself, obscured in blindness of darkness
As to his mind, dismiss'd from breast oblivious all things
Erewhile enjoined and held hereto in memory constant,
Nor for his saddened sire the gladness-signals uphoisting 210
Heralded safe return within sight of the Erechthean harbour.
For 'twas told of yore, when from walls of the Virginal Deess
AEgeus speeding his son, to the care of breezes committed,
Thus with a last embrace to the youth spake words of commandment:
"Son! far nearer my heart (sole thou) than life of the longest, 215
Son, I perforce dismiss to doubtful, dangerous chances,
Lately restored to me when eld draws nearest his ending,
Sithence such fortune in me, and in thee such boiling of valour
Tear thee away from me so loath, whose eyne in their languor
Never are sated with sight of my son, all-dearest of figures. 220
Nor will I send thee forth with joy that gladdens my bosom,
Nor will I suffer thee show boon signs of favouring Fortune,
But fro' my soul I'll first express an issue of sorrow,
Soiling my hoary hairs with dust and ashes commingled;
Then will I hang stained sails fast-made to the wavering yard-arms, 225
So shall our mourning thought and burning torture of spirit
Show by the dark sombre-dye of Iberian canvas spread.
But, an grant me the grace Who dwells in Sacred Itone,
(And our issue to guard and ward the seats of Erechtheus
Sware She) that be thy right besprent with blood of the Man-Bull, 230
Then do thou so-wise act, and stored in memory's heart-core
Dwell these mandates of me, no time their traces untracing.
Dip, when first shall arise our hills to gladden thy eye-glance,
Down from thine every mast th'ill-omened vestments of mourning,
Then let the twisten ropes upheave the whitest of canvas, 235
Wherewith splendid shall gleam the tallest spars of the top-mast, 235b
These seeing sans delay with joy exalting my spirit
Well shall I wot boon Time sets thee returning before me. "
Such were the mandates which stored at first in memory constant
Faded from Theseus' mind like mists, compelled by the whirlwind,
Fleet from aerial crests of mountains hoary with snow-drifts. 240
But as the sire had sought the citadel's summit for outlook,
Wasting his anxious eyes with tear-floods evermore flowing,
Forthright e'en as he saw the sail-gear darkened with dye-stain,
Headlong himself flung he from the sea-cliff's pinnacled summit
Holding his Theseus lost by doom of pitiless Fortune. 245
Thus as he came to the home funest, his roof-tree paternal,
Theseus (vaunting the death), what dule to the maiden of Minos
Dealt with unminding mind so dree'd he similar dolour.
She too gazing in grief at the kelson vanishing slowly,
Self-wrapt, manifold cares revolved, in spirit perturbed. 250

* * * * *

ON ANOTHER PART OF THE COVERLET.

But fro' the further side came flitting bright-faced Iacchus
Girded by Satyr-crew and Nysa-reared Sileni
Burning wi' love unto thee (Ariadne! ) and greeting thy presence.
* * * *
Who flocking eager to fray did rave with infuriate spirit,
"Evoe" phrensying loud, with heads at "Evoe" rolling. 255
Brandisht some of the maids their thyrsi sheathed of spear-point,
Some snatcht limbs and joints of sturlings rended to pieces,
These girt necks and waists with writhing bodies of vipers,
Those wi' the gear enwombed in crates dark orgies ordained--
Orgies that ears prophane must vainly lust for o'er hearing-- 260
Others with palms on high smote hurried strokes on the cymbal,
Or from the polisht brass woke thin-toned tinkling music,
While from the many there boomed and blared hoarse blast of the
horn-trump,
And with its horrid skirl loud shrilled the barbarous bag-pipe,
Showing such varied forms, that richly-decorate couch-cloth 265
Folded in strait embrace the bedding drapery-veiled.
This when the Thessalan youths had eyed with eager inspection
Fulfilled, place they began to provide for venerate Godheads,
Even as Zephyrus' breath, seas couching placid at dawn-tide,
Roughens, then stings and spurs the wavelets slantingly fretted-- 270
Rising Aurora the while 'neath Sol the wanderer's threshold--
Tardy at first they flow by the clement breathing of breezes
Urged, and echo the shores with soft-toned ripples of laughter,
But as the winds wax high so waves wax higher and higher,
Flashing and floating afar to outswim morn's purpurine splendours,-- 275
So did the crowd fare forth, the royal vestibule leaving,
And to their house each wight with vaguing paces departed.
After their wending, the first, foremost from Pelion's summit,
Chiron came to the front with woodland presents surcharged:
Whatso of blooms and flowers bring forth Thessalian uplands 280
Mighty with mountain crests, whate'er of riverine lea flowers
Reareth Favonius' air, bud-breeding, tepidly breathing,
All in his hands brought he, unseparate in woven garlands,
Whereat laughed the house as soothed by pleasure of perfume.
Presently Peneus appears, deserting verdurous Tempe-- 285
Tempe girt by her belts of greenwood ever impending,
Left for the Mamonides with frequent dances to worship--
Nor is he empty of hand, for bears he tallest of beeches
Deracinate, and bays with straight boles lofty and stately,
Not without nodding plane-tree nor less the flexible sister 290
Fire-slain Phaeton left, and not without cypresses airy.
These in a line wide-broke set he, the Mansion surrounding,
So by the soft leaves screened, the porch might flourish in verdure.
Follows hard on his track with active spirit Prometheus,
Bearing extenuate sign of penalties suffer'd in bygones. 295
Paid erewhiles what time fast-bound as to every member,
Hung he in carkanet slung from the Scythian rock-tor.
Last did the Father of Gods with his sacred spouse and his offspring,
Proud from the Heavens proceed, thee leaving (Phoebus) in loneness,
Lone wi' thy sister twin who haunteth mountains of Idrus: 300
For that the Virgin spurned as thou the person of Peleus,
Nor Thetis' nuptial torch would greet by act of her presence.
When they had leaned their limbs upon snowy benches reposing,
Tables largely arranged with various viands were garnisht.
But, ere opened the feast, with infirm gesture their semblance 305
Shaking, the Parcae fell to chaunting veridique verses.
Robed were their tremulous frames all o'er in muffle of garments
Bright-white, purple of hem enfolding heels in its edges;
Snowy the fillets that bound heads aged by many a year-tide,
And, as their wont aye was, their hands plied labour unceasing. 310
Each in her left upheld with soft fleece clothed a distaff,
Then did the right that drew forth thread with upturn of fingers
Gently fashion the yarn which deftly twisted by thumb-ball
Speeded the spindle poised by thread-whorl perfect of polish;
Thus as the work was wrought, the lengths were trimmed wi' the
fore-teeth, 315
While to their thin, dry lips stuck wool-flecks severed by biting,
Which at the first outstood from yarn-hanks evenly fine-drawn.
Still at their feet in front soft fleece-flecks white as the snow-flake
Lay in the trusty guard of wickers woven in withies.
Always a-carding the wool, with clear-toned voices resounding 320
Told they such lots as these in song divinely directed,
Chaunts which none after-time shall 'stablish falsehood-convicted.

1.

O who by virtues great all highmost honours enhancest,
Guard of Emathia-land, most famous made by thine offspring,
Take what the Sisters deign this gladsome day to disclose thee, 325
Oracles soothfast told,--And ye, by Destiny followed,
Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O Spindles.

2.

Soon to thy sight shall rise, their fond hopes bringing to bridegrooms,
Hesperus: soon shall come thy spouse with planet auspicious,
Who shall thy mind enbathe with a love that softens the spirit, 330
And as thyself shall prepare for sinking in languorous slumber,
Under thy neck robust, soft arms dispreading as pillow.
Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O Spindles.

3.

Never a house like this such loves as these hath united,
Never did love conjoin by such-like covenant lovers, 335
As th'according tie Thetis deigned in concert wi' Peleus.
Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O Spindles.

4.

Born of yon twain shall come Achilles guiltless of fear-sense,
Known by his forceful breast and ne'er by back to the foeman,
Who shall at times full oft in doubtful contest of race-course 340
Conquer the fleet-foot doe with slot-tracks smoking and burning.
Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O Spindles.

5.

None shall with him compare, howe'er war-doughty a hero,
Whenas the Phrygian rills flow deep with bloodshed of Teucer,
And beleaguering the walls of Troy with longest of warfare 345
He shall the works lay low, third heir of Pelops the perjured.
Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O Spindles.

6.

His be the derring-do and deeds of valour egregious,
Often mothers shall own at funeral-rites of their children,
What time their hoary hairs from head in ashes are loosened, 350
And wi' their hands infirm they smite their bosoms loose dugged.
Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O Spindles.

7.

For as the toiling hind bestrewing denseness of corn-stalks
Under the broiling sun mows grain-fields yellow to harvest,
So shall his baneful brand strew earth with corpses of Troy-born. 355
Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O Spindles.

8.

Aye to his valorous worth attest shall wave of Scamander
Which unto Helle-Sea fast flowing ever dischargeth,
Straiter whose course shall grow by up-heaped barrage of corpses,
While in his depths runs warm his stream with slaughter commingled. 360
Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O Spindles.

9.

Witness in fine shall be the victim rendered to death-stroke,
Whenas the earthern tomb on lofty tumulus builded
Shall of the stricken maid receive limbs white as the snow-flake.
Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O Spindles. 365

10.

For when at last shall Fors to weary Achaians her fiat
Deal, of Dardanus-town to burst Neptunian fetters,
Then shall the high-reared tomb stand bathed with Polyxena's life-blood,
Who, as the victim doomed to fall by the double-edged falchion,
Forward wi' hams relaxt shall smite a body beheaded. 370
Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O Spindles.

11.

Wherefore arise, ye pair, conjoin loves ardently longed-for,
Now doth the groom receive with happiest omen his goddess,
Now let the bride at length to her yearning spouse be delivered.
Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O Spindles. 375

12.

Neither the nurse who comes at dawn to visit her nursling
E'er shall avail her neck to begird with yesterday's ribband.
[Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O spindles. ]
Nor shall the mother's soul for ill-matcht daughter a-grieving
Lose by a parted couch all hopes of favourite grandsons. 380
Speed ye, the well-spun woof out-drawing, speed ye, O Spindles.

Thus in the bygone day Peleus' fate foretelling
Chaunted from breasts divine prophetic verse the Parcae.
For that the pure chaste homes of heroes to visit in person
Oft-tide the Gods, and themselves to display where mortals were gathered,
385
Wont were the Heavenlies while none human piety spurned.
Often the Deities' Sire, in fulgent temple a-dwelling,
Whenas in festal days received he his annual worship,
Looked upon hundreds of bulls felled prone on pavement before him.
Full oft Liber who roamed from topmost peak of Parnassus 390
Hunted his howling host, his Thyiads with tresses dishevelled.
* * * *
Then with contending troops from all their city outflocking
Gladly the Delphians hailed their God with smoking of altars.
Often in death-full war and bravest of battle, or Mavors
Or rapid Triton's Queen or eke the Virgin Rhamnusian, 395
Bevies of weaponed men exhorting, proved their presence.
But from the time when earth was stained with unspeakable scandals
And forth fro' greeding breasts of all men justice departed,
Then did the brother drench his hands in brotherly bloodshed,
Stinted the son in heart to mourn decease of his parents, 400
Longed the sire to sight his first-born's funeral convoy
So more freely the flower of step-dame-maiden to rifle;
After that impious Queen her guiltless son underlying,
Impious, the household gods with crime ne'er dreading to sully--
All things fair and nefand being mixt in fury of evil 405
Turned from ourselves avert the great goodwill of the Godheads.
Wherefor they nowise deign our human assemblies to visit,
Nor do they suffer themselves be met in light of the day-tide.

Pines aforetimes sprung from Pelion peak floated, so 'tis said, through
liquid billows of Neptune to the flowing Phasis and the confines Aeetaean,
when the picked youth, the vigour of Argive manhood seeking to carry away
the Golden Fleece from Colchis, dared to skim o'er salt seas in a
swift-sailing ship, sweeping caerulean ocean with paddles shapen from
fir-wood. That Goddess who guards the castles in topmost parts of the towns
herself fashioned the car, scudding with lightest of winds, uniting the
interweaved pines unto the curving keel. That same first instructed
untaught Amphitrite with sailing. Scarce had it split with its stem the
windy waves, and the billow vext with oars had whitened into foam, when
arose from the abyss of the hoary eddies the faces of sea-dwelling Nereids
wondering at the marvel. And then on that propitious day mortal eyes gazed
on sea-nymphs with naked bodies bare to the breasts outstanding from the
foamy abyss. Then 'tis said Peleus burned with desire for Thetis, then
Thetis contemned not mortal hymenaeals, then Thetis' sire himself
sanctioned her joining to Peleus. O born in the time of joyfuller ages,
heroes, hail! sprung from the gods, good progeny of mothers, hail! and
favourably be ye inclined. You oft in my song I'll address, thee too I'll
approach, Peleus, pillar of Thessaly, so increased in importance by thy
fortunate wedding-torches, to whom Jupiter himself, the sire of the gods
himself, yielded up his beloved. Did not Thetis embrace thee, she most
winsome of Nereids born? Did not Tethys consent that thou should'st lead
home her grandchild, and Oceanus eke, whose waters girdle the total globe?
When in full course of time the longed-for day had dawned, all Thessaly
assembled throngs his home, a gladsome company o'erspreading the halls:
they bear gifts to the fore, and their joy in their faces they shew. Scyros
desert remains, they leave Phthiotic Tempe, Crannon's homes, and the
fortressed walls of Larissa; to Pharsalia they hie, 'neath Pharsalian roofs
they gather. None tills the soil, the heifers' necks grow softened, the
trailing vine is not cleansed by the curved rake-prongs, nor does the
sickle prune the shade of the spreading tree-branches, nor does the bullock
up-tear the glebe with the prone-bending ploughshare; squalid rust steals
o'er the neglected ploughs.

But this mansion, throughout its innermost recesses of opulent royalty,
glitters with gleaming gold and with silver. Ivory makes white the seats;
goblets glint on the boards; the whole house delights in the splendour of
royal treasure. Placed in the midst of the mansion is the bridal bed of the
goddess, made glossy with Indian tusks and covered with purple, tinted with
the shell-fish's rosy dye. This tapestry embroidered with figures of men of
ancient time pourtrays with admirable art the heroes' valour. For looking
forth from Dia's beach, resounding with crashing of breakers, Theseus
hasting from sight with swiftest of fleets, Ariadne watches, her heart
swelling with raging passion, nor scarce yet credits she sees what she
sees, as, newly-awakened from her deceptive sleep, she perceives herself,
deserted and woeful, on the lonely shore. But the heedless youth, flying
away, beats the waves with his oars, leaving his perjured vows to the gusty
gales. In the dim distance from amidst the sea-weed, the daughter of Minos
with sorrowful eyes, like a stone-carved Bacchante, gazes afar, alas! gazes
after him, heaving with great waves of grief. No longer does the fragile
fillet bind her yellow locks, no more with light veil is her hidden bosom
covered, no more with rounded zone the milky breasts are clasped; down
fallen from her body everything is scattered, hither, thither, and the salt
waves toy with them in front of her very feet. But neither on fillet nor
floating veil, but on thee, Theseus, in their stead, was she musing: on
thee she bent her heart, her thoughts, her love-lorn mind. Ah, woeful one,
with sorrows unending distraught, Erycina sows thorny cares deep in thy
bosom, since that time when Theseus fierce in his vigour set out from the
curved bay of Piraeus, and gained the Gortynian roofs of the iniquitous
ruler.

For of old 'tis narrated, that constrained by plague of the cruelest to
expiate the slaughter of Androgeos, both chosen youths and the pick of the
unmarried maidens Cecropia was wont to give as a feast to the Minotaur.
When thus his strait walls with ills were vexed, Theseus with free will
preferred to yield up his body for adored Athens rather than such Cecropian
corpses be carried to Crete unobsequied. And therefore borne in a speedy
craft by favouring breezes, he came to the imperious Minos and his superb
seat. Instant the royal virgin him saw with longing glance, she whom the
chaste couch out-breathing sweetest of scents cradled in her mother's
tender enfoldings, like to the myrtle which the rivers of Eurotas produce,
or the many-tinted blooms opening with the springtide's breezes, she bent
not down away from him her kindling glance, until the flame spread through
her whole body, and burned into her innermost marrow. Ah, hard of heart,
urging with misery to madness, O holy boy, who mingles men's cares and
their joyings, and thou queen of Golgos and of foliaged Idalium, on what
waves did you heave the mind-kindled maid, sighing full oft for the
golden-haired guest! What dreads she bore in her swooning soul! How often
did she grow sallower in sheen than gold! When craving to contend against
the savage monster Theseus faced death or the palm of praise. Then gifts to
the gods not unmeet not idly given, with promise from tight-closed lips did
she address her vows. For as an oak waving its boughs on Taurus' top, or a
coniferous pine with sweating stem, is uprooted by savage storm, twisting
its trunk with its blast (dragged from its roots prone it falleth afar,
breaking all in the line of its fall) so did Theseus fling down the
conquered body of the brute, tossing its horns in vain towards the skies.
Thence backwards he retraced his steps 'midst great laud, guiding his
errant footsteps by means of a tenuous thread, lest when outcoming from
tortuous labyrinthines his efforts be frustrated by unobservant wandering.
But why, turned aside from my first story, should I recount more, how the
daughter fleeing her father's face, her sister's embrace, and e'en her
mother's, who despairingly bemoaned her lost daughter, preferred to all
these the sweet love of Theseus; or how borne by their boat to the spumy
shores of Dia she came; or how her yokeman with unmemoried breast forsaking
her, left her bound in the shadows of sleep? And oft, so 'tis said, with
her heart burning with fury she outpoured clarion cries from depths of her
bosom, then sadly scaled the rugged mounts, whence she could cast her
glance o'er the vasty seething ocean, then ran into the opposing billows of
the heaving sea, raising from her bared legs her clinging raiment, and in
uttermost plight of woe with tear-stained face and chilly sobs spake she
thus:--

"Is it thus, O perfidious, when dragged from my motherland's shores, is it
thus, O false Theseus, that thou leavest me on this desolate strand? thus
dost depart unmindful of slighted godheads, bearing home thy perjured vows?
Was no thought able to bend the intent of thy ruthless mind? hadst thou no
clemency there, that thy pitiless bowels might compassionate me? But these
were not the promises thou gavest me idly of old, this was not what thou
didst bid me hope for, but the blithe bride-bed, hymenaeal happiness: all
empty air, blown away by the breezes. Now, now, let no woman give credence
to man's oath, let none hope for faithful vows from mankind; for whilst
their eager desire strives for its end, nothing fear they to swear, nothing
of promises stint they: but instant their lusting thoughts are satiate with
lewdness, nothing of speech they remember, nothing of perjuries reck. In
truth I snatched thee from the midst of the whirlpool of death, preferring
to suffer the loss of a brother rather than fail thy need in the supreme
hour, O ingrate. For the which I shall be a gift as prey to be rent by wild
beasts and the carrion-fowl, nor dead shall I be placed in the earth,
covered with funeral mound. What lioness bare thee 'neath lonely crag? What
sea conceived and spued thee from its foamy crest? What Syrtis, what
grasping Scylla, what vast Charybdis? O thou repayer with such guerdon for
thy sweet life! If 'twas not thy heart's wish to yoke with me, through
holding in horror the dread decrees of my stern sire, yet thou couldst have
led me to thy home, where as thine handmaid I might have served thee with
cheerful service, laving thy snowy feet with clear water, or spreading the
purple coverlet o'er thy couch. Yet why, distraught with woe, do I vainly
lament to the unknowing winds, which unfurnished with sense, can neither
hear uttered complaints nor can return them? For now he has sped away into
the midst of the seas, nor doth any mortal appear along this desolate
seaboard. Thus with o'erweening scorn doth bitter Fate in my extreme hour
even grudge ears to my plaints. All-powerful Jupiter! would that in old
time the Cecropian poops had not touched at the Gnossian shores, nor that
bearing to the unquelled bull the direful ransom had the false mariner
moored his hawser to Crete, nor that yon wretch hiding ruthless designs
beneath sweet seemings had reposed as a guest in our halls! For whither may
I flee? in what hope, O lost one, take refuge? Shall I climb the Idomenean
crags? but the truculent sea stretching amain with its whirlings of waters
separates us. Can I quest help from my father, whom I deserted to follow a
youth besprinkled with my brother's blood? Can I crave comfort from the
care of a faithful yokeman, who is fleeing with yielding oars, encurving
'midst whirling waters. If I turn from the beach there is no roof in this
tenantless island, no way sheweth a passage, circled by waves of the sea;
no way of flight, no hope; all denotes dumbness, desolation, and death.
Natheless mine eyes shall not be dimmed in death, nor my senses secede from
my spent frame, until I have besought from the gods a meet mulct for my
betrayal, and implored the faith of the celestials with my latest breath.
Wherefore ye requiters of men's deeds with avenging pains, O Eumenides,
whose front enwreathed with serpent-locks blazons the wrath exhaled from
your bosom, hither, hither haste, hear ye my plainings, which I, sad
wretch, am urged to outpour from mine innermost marrow, helpless, burning,
and blind with frenzied fury. And since in truth they spring from the
veriest depths of my heart, be ye unwilling to allow my agony to pass
unheeded, but with such mind as Theseus forsook me, with like mind, O
goddesses, may he bring evil on himself and on his kin. "

After she had poured forth these words from her grief-laden bosom,
distractedly clamouring for requital against his heartless deeds, the
celestial ruler assented with almighty nod, at whose motion the earth and
the awe-full waters quaked, and the world of glittering stars did quiver.
But Theseus, self-blinded with mental mist, let slip from forgetful breast
all those injunctions which until then he had held firmly in mind, nor bore
aloft sweet signals to his sad sire, shewing himself safe when in sight of
Erectheus' haven. For 'tis said that aforetime, when Aegeus entrusted his
son to the winds, on leaving the walls of the chaste goddess's city, these
commands he gave to the youth with his parting embrace.

"O mine only son, far dearer to me than long life, lately restored to me at
extreme end of my years, O son whom I must perforce dismiss to a doubtful
hazard, since my ill fate and thine ardent valour snatch thee from
unwilling me, whose dim eyes are not yet sated with my son's dear form: nor
gladly and with joyous breast do I send thee, nor will I suffer thee to
bear signs of helpful fortune, but first from my breast many a plaint will
I express, sullying my grey hairs with dust and ashes, and then will I hang
dusky sails to the swaying mast, so that our sorrow and burning lowe are
shewn by Iberian canvas, rustily darkened. Yet if the dweller on holy
Itone, who deigns defend our race and Erectheus' dwellings, grant thee to
besprinkle thy right hand in the bull's blood, then see that in very truth
these commandments deep-stored in thine heart's memory do flourish, nor any
time deface them. Instant thine eyes shall see our cliffs, lower their
gloomy clothing from every yard, and let the twisted cordage bear aloft
snowy sails, where splendent shall shine bright topmast spars, so that,
instant discerned, I may know with gladness and lightness of heart that in
prosperous hour thou art returned to my face. "

These charges, at first held in constant mind, from Theseus slipped away as
clouds are impelled by the breath of the winds from the ethereal peak of a
snow-clad mount. But his father as he betook himself to the castle's
turrets as watchplace, dimming his anxious eyes with continual weeping,
when first he spied the discoloured canvas, flung himself headlong from the
top of the crags, deeming Theseus lost by harsh fate. Thus as he entered
the grief-stricken house, his paternal roof, Theseus savage with slaughter
met with like grief as that which with unmemoried mind he had dealt to
Minos' daughter: while she with grieving gaze at his disappearing keel,
turned over a tumult of cares in her wounded spirit.

But on another part [of the tapestry] swift hastened the flushed Iacchus
with his train of Satyrs and Nisa-begot Sileni, thee questing, Ariadne, and
aflame with love for thee. * * * * These scattered all around, an inspired
band, rushed madly with mind all distraught, ranting "Euhoe," with tossing
of heads "Euhoe. " Some with womanish hands shook thyrsi with wreath-covered
points; some tossed limbs of a rended steer; some engirt themselves with
writhed snakes; some enacted obscure orgies with deep chests, orgies of
which the profane vainly crave a hearing; others beat the tambours with
outstretched palms, or from the burnished brass provoked shrill tinklings,
blew raucous-sounding blasts from many horns, and the barbarous pipe droned
forth horrible song.

With luxury of such figures was the coverlet adorned, enwrapping the bed
with its mantling embrace. After the Thessalian youthhood with eager
engazing were sated they began to give way to the sacred gods. Hence, as
with his morning's breath brushing the still sea Zephyrus makes the sloping
billows uprise, when Aurora mounts 'neath the threshold of the wandering
sun, which waves heave slowly at first with the breeze's gentle motion
(plashing with the sound as of low laughter) but after, as swells the wind,
more and more frequent they crowd and gleam in the purple light as they
float away,--so quitting the royal vestibule did the folk hie them away
each to his home with steps wandering hither and thither.

After they had wended their way, chief from the Pelion vertex Chiron came,
the bearer of sylvan spoil: for whatsoever the fields bear, whatso the
Thessalian land on its high hills breeds, and what flowers the fecund air
of warm Favonius begets near the running streams, these did he bear
enwreathed into blended garlands wherewith the house rippled with laughter,
caressed by the grateful odour.

Speedily stands present Penios, for a time his verdant Tempe, Tempe whose
overhanging trees encircle, leaving to the Dorian choirs, damsels
Magnesian, to frequent; nor empty-handed,--for he has borne hither lofty
beeches uprooted and the tall laurel with straight stem, nor lacks he the
nodding plane and the lithe sister of flame-wrapt Phaethon and the aerial
cypress. These wreathed in line did he place around the palace so that the
vestibule might grow green sheltered with soft fronds.

After him follows Prometheus of inventive mind, bearing diminishing traces
of his punishment of aforetime, which of old he had suffered, with his
limbs confined by chains hanging from the rugged Scythian crags. Then came
the sire of gods from heaven with his holy consort and offspring, leaving
thee alone, Phoebus, with thy twin-sister the fosterer of the mountains of
Idrus: for equally with thyself did thy sister disdain Peleus nor was she
willing to honour the wedding torches of Thetis. After they had reclined
their snow-white forms along the seats, tables were loaded on high with
food of various kinds.

In the meantime with shaking bodies and infirm gesture the Parcae began to
intone their veridical chant. Their trembling frames were enwrapped around
with white garments, encircled with a purple border at their heels, snowy
fillets bound each aged brow, and their hands pursued their never-ending
toil, as of custom. The left hand bore the distaff enwrapped in soft wool,
the right hand lightly withdrawing the threads with upturned fingers did
shape them, then twisting them with the prone thumb it turned the balanced
spindle with well-polished whirl. And then with a pluck of their tooth the
work was always made even, and the bitten wool-shreds adhered to their
dried lips, which shreds at first had stood out from the fine thread. And
in front of their feet wicker baskets of osier twigs took charge of the
soft white woolly fleece. These, with clear-sounding voice, as they combed
out the wool, outpoured fates of such kind in sacred song, in song which
none age yet to come could tax with untruth.

"O with great virtues thine exceeding honour augmenting, stay of
Emathia-land, most famous in thine issue, receive what the sisters make
known to thee on this gladsome day, a weird veridical! But ye whom the
fates do follow:--Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.

"Now Hesperus shall come unto thee bearing what is longed for by
bridegrooms, with that fortunate star shall thy bride come, who ensteeps
thy soul with the sway of softening love, and prepares with thee to conjoin
in languorous slumber, making her smooth arms thy pillow round 'neath thy
sinewy neck. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.

"No house ever yet enclosed such loves, no love bound lovers with such
pact, as abideth with Thetis, as is the concord of Peleus. Haste ye,
a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.

"To ye shall Achilles be born, a stranger to fear, to his foemen not by his
back, but by his broad breast known, who, oft-times the victor in the
uncertain struggle of the foot-race, shall outrun the fire-fleet footsteps
of the speedy doe. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.

"None in war with him may compare as a hero, when the Phrygian streams
shall trickle with Trojan blood, and when besieging the walls of Troy with
a long-drawn-out warfare perjured Pelops' third heir shall lay that city
waste. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.

"His glorious acts and illustrious deeds often shall mothers attest o'er
funeral-rites of their sons, when the white locks from their heads are
unloosed amid ashes, and they bruise their discoloured breasts with feeble
fists. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.

"For as the husbandman bestrewing the dense wheat-ears mows the harvest
yellowed 'neath ardent sun, so shall he cast prostrate the corpses of
Troy's sons with grim swords. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye
spindles.

"His great valour shall be attested by Scamander's wave, which ever pours
itself into the swift Hellespont, narrowing whose course with slaughtered
heaps of corpses he shall make tepid its deep stream by mingling warm blood
with the water. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.

"And she a witness in fine shall be the captive-maid handed to death, when
the heaped-up tomb of earth built in lofty mound shall receive the snowy
limbs of the stricken virgin. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye
spindles.

"For instant fortune shall give the means to the war-worn Greeks to break
Neptune's stone bonds of the Dardanian city, the tall tomb shall be made
dank with Polyxena's blood, who as the victim succumbing 'neath two-edged
sword, with yielding hams shall fall forward a headless corpse. Haste ye,
a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles.

"Wherefore haste ye to conjoin in the longed-for delights of your love.
Bridegroom thy goddess receive in felicitous compact; let the bride be
given to her eager husband. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye
spindles.

"Nor shall the nurse at orient light returning, with yester-e'en's thread
succeed in circling her neck. [Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye
spindles. ] Not need her solicitous mother fear sad discord shall cause a
parted bed for her daughter, nor need she cease to hope for dear
grandchildren. Haste ye, a-weaving the woof, O hasten, ye spindles. "

With such soothsaying songs of yore did the Parcae chant from divine breast
the felicitous fate of Peleus. For of aforetime the heaven-dwellers were
wont to visit the chaste homes of heroes and to shew themselves in mortal
assembly ere yet their worship was scorned. Often the father of the gods,
a-resting in his glorious temple, when on the festal days his annual rites
appeared, gazed on an hundred bulls strewn prone on the earth. Often
wandering Liber on topmost summit of Parnassus led his yelling Thyiads with
loosely tossed locks. * * * * When the Delphians tumultuously trooping from
the whole of their city joyously acclaimed the god with smoking altars.
Often in lethal strife of war Mavors, or swift Triton's queen, or the
Rhamnusian virgin, in person did exhort armed bodies of men.
But after the
earth was infected with heinous crime, and each one banished justice from
their grasping mind, and brothers steeped their hands in fraternal blood,
the son ceased grieving o'er departed parents, the sire craved for the
funeral rites of his first-born that freely he might take of the flower of
unwedded step-dame, the unholy mother, lying under her unknowing son, did
not fear to sully her household gods with dishonour: everything licit and
lawless commingled with mad infamy turned away from us the just-seeing mind
of the gods. Wherefore nor do they deign to appear at such-like assemblies,
nor will they permit themselves to be met in the day-light.

LXV.

Esti me adsiduo confectum cura dolore
Sevocat a doctis, Ortale, virginibus,
Nec potisest dulces Musarum expromere fetus
Mens animi, (tantis fluctuat ipsa malis:
Namque mei nuper Lethaeo gurgite fratris 5
Pallidulum manans adluit unda pedem,
Troia Rhoeteo quem subter littore tellus
Ereptum nostris obterit ex oculis.
* * * *
Adloquar, audiero numquam tua _facta_ loquentem,
Numquam ego te, vita frater amabilior, 10
Aspiciam posthac. at certe semper amabo,
Semper maesta tua carmina morte canam,
Qualia sub densis ramorum concinit umbris
Daulias absumpti fata gemens Itylei)--
Sed tamen in tantis maeroribus, Ortale, mitto 15
Haec expressa tibi carmina Battiadae,
Ne tua dicta vagis nequiquam credita ventis
Effluxisse meo forte putes animo,
Vt missum sponsi furtivo munere malum
Procurrit casto virginis e gremio, 20
Quod miserae oblitae molli sub veste locatum,
Dum adventu matris prosilit, excutitur:
Atque illud prono praeceps agitur decursu,
Huic manat tristi conscius ore rubor.

LXV.

TO HORTALUS LAMENTING A LOST BROTHER.

Albeit care that consumes, with dule assiduous grieving,
Me from the Learned Maids (Hortalus! ) ever seclude,
Nor can avail sweet births of the Muses thou to deliver
Thought o' my mind; (so much floats it on flooding of ills:
For that the Lethe-wave upsurging of late from abysses, 5
Laved my brother's foot, paling with pallor of death,
He whom the Trojan soil, Rhoetean shore underlying,
Buries for ever and aye, forcibly snatched from our sight.
* * * *
I can address; no more shall I hear thee tell of thy doings,
Say, shall I never again, brother all liefer than life, 10
Sight thee henceforth? But I will surely love thee for ever
Ever what songs I sing saddened shall be by thy death;
Such as the Daulian bird 'neath gloom of shadowy frondage
Warbles, of Itys lost ever bemoaning the lot. )
Yet amid grief so great to thee, my Hortalus, send I 15
These strains sung to a mode borrowed from Battiades;
Lest shouldest weet of me thy words, to wandering wind-gusts
Vainly committed, perchance forth of my memory flowed--
As did that apple sent for a furtive giftie by wooer,
In the chaste breast of the Maid hidden a-sudden out-sprang; 20
For did the hapless forget when in loose-girt garment it lurked,
Forth would it leap as she rose, scared by her mother's approach,
And while coursing headlong, it rolls far out of her keeping,
O'er the triste virgin's brow flushes the conscious blush.

Though outspent with care and unceasing grief, I am withdrawn, Ortalus,
from the learned Virgins, nor is my soul's mind able to bring forth sweet
babes of the Muses (so much does it waver 'midst ills: for but lately the
wave of the Lethean stream doth lave with its flow the pallid foot of my
brother, whom 'neath the Rhoetean seaboard the Trojan soil doth crush,
thrust from our eyesight. * * * Never again may I salute thee, nor hear thy
converse; never again, O brother, more loved than life, may I see thee in
aftertime. But for all time in truth will I love thee, always will I sing
elegies made gloomy by thy death, such as the Daulian bird pipes 'neath
densest shades of foliage, lamenting the lot of slain Itys. ) Yet 'midst
sorrows so deep, O Ortalus, I send thee these verses re-cast from
Battiades, lest thou shouldst credit thy words by chance have slipt from my
mind, given o'er to the wandering winds, as 'twas with that apple, sent as
furtive love-token by the wooer, which outleapt from the virgin's chaste
bosom; for, placed by the hapless girl 'neath her soft vestment, and
forgotten,--when she starts at her mother's approach, out 'tis shaken: and
down it rolls headlong to the ground, whilst a tell-tale flush mantles the
face of the distressed girl.

LXVI.

Omnia qui magni dispexit lumina mundi,
Qui stellarum ortus comperit atque obitus,
Flammeus ut rapidi solis nitor obscuretur,
Vt cedant certis sidera temporibus,
Vt Triviam furtim sub Latmia saxa relegans 5
Dulcis amor gyro devocet aerio,
Idem me ille Conon caelesti in lumine vidit
E Beroniceo vertice caesariem
Fulgentem clare, quam cunctis illa deorum
Levia protendens brachia pollicitast, 10
Qua rex tempestate novo auctus hymenaeo
Vastatum finis iverat Assyrios,
Dulcia nocturnae portans vestigia rixae,
Quam de virgineis gesserat exuviis.
Estne novis nuptis odio venus? anne parentum 15
Frustrantur falsis gaudia lacrimulis,
Vbertim thalami quas intra lumina fundunt?
Non, ita me divi, vera gemunt, iuerint.
Id mea me multis docuit regina querellis
Invisente novo praelia torva viro. 20
An tu non orbum luxti deserta cubile,
Sed fratris cari flebile discidium?
Quam penitus maestas excedit cura medullas!
Vt tibi tum toto pectore sollicitae
Sensibus ereptis mens excidit! at te ego certe 25
Cognoram a parva virgine magnanimam.
Anne bonum oblita's facinus, quo regium adepta's
Coniugium, quo non fortius ausit alis?
Sed tum maesta virum mittens quae verba locuta's!
Iuppiter, ut tristi lumina saepe manu! 30
Quis te mutavit tantus deus? an quod amantes
Non longe a caro corpore abesse volunt?
Atque ibi me cunctis pro dulci coniuge divis
Non sine taurino sanguine pollicita's
Sei reditum tetullisset. is haut in tempore longo 35
Captam Asiam Aegypti finibus addiderat.
Quis ego pro factis caelesti reddita coetu
Pristina vota novo munere dissoluo.
Invita, o regina, tuo de vertice cessi,
Invita: adiuro teque tuomque caput, 40
Digna ferat quod siquis inaniter adiurarit:
Sed qui se ferro postulet esse parem?
Ille quoque eversus mons est, quem maximum in orbi
Progenies Thiae clara supervehitur,
Cum Medi peperere novom mare, cumque inventus 45
Per medium classi barbara navit Athon.
Quid facient crines, cum ferro talia cedant?
Iuppiter, ut Chalybon omne genus pereat,
Et qui principio sub terra quaerere venas
Institit ac ferri frangere duritiem! 50
Abiunctae paulo ante comae mea fata sorores
Lugebant, cum se Memnonis Aethiopis
Vnigena inpellens nictantibus aera pennis
Obtulit Arsinoes Locridos ales equos,
Isque per aetherias me tollens avolat umbras 55
Et Veneris casto collocat in gremio.
Ipsa suum Zephyritis eo famulum legarat,
Graia Canopieis incola litoribus.
+ Hi dii ven ibi vario ne solum in lumine caeli
Ex Ariadneis aurea temporibus 60
Fixa corona foret, sed nos quoque fulgeremus
Devotae flavi verticis exuviae,
Vvidulam a fletu cedentem ad templa deum me
Sidus in antiquis diva novom posuit:
Virginis et saevi contingens namque Leonis 65
Lumina, Callisto iuncta Lycaoniae,
Vertor in occasum, tardum dux ante Booten,
Qui vix sero alto mergitur Oceano.
Sed quamquam me nocte premunt vestigia divom,
Lux autem canae Tethyi restituit, 70
(Pace tua fari hic liceat, Rhamnusia virgo,
Namque ego non ullo vera timore tegam,
Nec si me infestis discerpent sidera dictis,
Condita quin verei pectoris evoluam):
Non his tam laetor rebus, quam me afore semper, 75
Afore me a dominae vertice discrucior,
Quicum ego, dum virgo curis fuit omnibus expers,
Vnguenti Suriei milia multa bibi.
Nunc vos, optato quom iunxit lumine taeda,
Non prius unanimis corpora coniugibus 80
Tradite nudantes reiecta veste papillas,
Quam iocunda mihi munera libet onyx,
Voster onyx, casto petitis quae iura cubili.
Sed quae se inpuro dedit adulterio,
Illius a mala dona levis bibat irrita pulvis: 85
Namque ego ab indignis praemia nulla peto.
Sed magis, o nuptae, semper concordia vostras
Semper amor sedes incolat adsiduos.
Tu vero, regina, tuens cum sidera divam
Placabis festis luminibus Venerem, 90
Vnguinis expertem non siris esse tuam me,
Sed potius largis adfice muneribus.
Sidera corruerent utinam! coma regia fiam:
Proximus Hydrochoi fulgeret Oarion!

LXVI.

(LOQUITUR) BERENICE'S LOCK.

He who every light of the sky world's vastness inspected,
He who mastered in mind risings and settings of stars,
How of the fast rising sun obscured be the fiery splendours,
How at the seasons assured vanish the planets from view,
How Diana to lurk thief-like 'neath Latmian stonefields, 5
Summoned by sweetness of Love, comes from her aery gyre;
That same Conon espied among lights Celestial shining
Me, Berenice's Hair, which, from her glorious head,
Fulgent in brightness afar, to many a host of the Godheads
Stretching her soft smooth arms she vowed to devoutly bestow, 10
What time strengthened by joy of new-made wedlock the monarch
Bounds of Assyrian land hurried to plunder and pill;
Bearing of nightly strife new signs and traces delicious,
Won in the war he waged virginal trophies to win.
Loathsome is Venus to all new-paired? Else why be the parents' 15
Pleasure frustrated aye by the false flow of tears
Poured in profusion amid illuminate genial chamber?
Nay not real the groans; ever so help me the Gods!
This truth taught me my Queen by force of manifold 'plainings
After her new groom hied facing the fierceness of fight. 20
Yet so thou mournedst not for a bed deserted of husband,
As for a brother beloved wending on woefullest way?
How was the marrow of thee consumedly wasted by sorrow!
So clean forth of thy breast, rackt with solicitous care,
Mind fled, sense being reft! But I have known thee for certain 25
E'en from young virginal years lofty of spirit to be.
Hast thou forgotten the feat whose greatness won thee a royal
Marriage--a deed so prow, never a prower was dared?
Yet how sad was the speech thou spakest, thy husband farewelling!
(Jupiter! ) Often thine eyes wiping with sorrowful hand! 30
What manner God so great thus changed thee? Is it that lovers
Never will tarry afar parted from person beloved?
Then unto every God on behalf of thy helpmate, thy sweeting,
Me thou gavest in vow, not without bloodshed of bulls,
If he be granted return, and long while nowise delaying, 35
Captive Asia he add unto Egyptian bounds.
Now for such causes I, enrolled in host of the Heavens,
By a new present, discharge promise thou madest of old:
Maugre my will, O Queen, my place on thy head I relinquished,
Maugre my will, I attest, swearing by thee and thy head; 40
Penalty due shall befall whoso makes oath to no purpose.
Yet who assumes the vaunt forceful as iron to be?
E'en was that mount o'erthrown, though greatest in universe, where
through
Thia's illustrious race speeded its voyage to end,
Whenas the Medes brought forth new sea, and barbarous youth-hood 45
Urged an Armada to swim traversing middle-Athos.
What can be done by Hair when such things yield them to Iron?
Jupiter! Grant Chalybon perish the whole of the race,
Eke who in primal times ore seeking under the surface
Showed th' example, and spalled iron however so hard. 50
Shortly before I was shorn my sister tresses bewailed
Lot of me, e'en as the sole brother to Memnon the Black,
Winnowing upper air wi' feathers flashing and quiv'ring,
Chloris' wing-borne steed, came before Arsinoe,
Whence upraising myself he flies through aery shadows, 55
And in chaste Venus' breast drops he the present he bears.
Eke Zephyritis had sent, for the purpose trusted, her bondsman,
Settler of Grecian strain on the Canopian strand.
So willed various Gods, lest sole 'mid lights of the Heavens
Should Ariadne's crown taken from temples of her 60
Glitter in gold, but we not less shine fulgent in splendour,
We the consecrate spoils shed by a blond-hued head,
Even as weeping-wet sought I the fanes of Celestials,
Placed me the Goddess a new light amid starlights of old:
For with Virgo in touch and joining the furious Lion's 65
Radiance with Callisto, maid of Lycaon beloved,
Wind I still to the west, conducting tardy Bootes,
Who unwilling and slow must into Ocean merge.
Yet though press me o'night the pacing footprints of Godheads,
Tethys, hoary of hair, ever regains me by day. 70
(Lend me thy leave to speak such words, Rhamnusian Virgin,
Verities like unto these never in fear will I veil;
Albeit every star asperse me with enemy's censure,
Secrets in soothfast heart hoarded perforce I reveal. )
Nowise gladdens me so this state as absence torments me, 75
Absence doomed for aye ta'en fro' my mistress's head,
Where I was wont (though she such cares unknew in her girlhood)
Many a thousand scents, Syrian unguents, to sip.
Now do you pair conjoined by the longed-for light of the torches,
Earlier yield not selves unto unanimous wills 80
Nor wi' the dresses doft your bared nipples encounter,
Ere shall yon onyx-vase pour me libations glad,
Onyx yours, ye that seek only rights of virtuous bed-rite.
But who yieldeth herself unto advowtry impure,
Ah! may her loathed gifts in light dust uselessly soak, 85
For of unworthy sprite never a gift I desire.
Rather, O new-mated brides, be concord aye your companion,
Ever let constant love dwell in the dwellings of you.
Yet when thou sightest, O Queen, the Constellations, I pray thee,
Every festal day Venus the Goddess appease; 90
Nor of thy unguent-gifts allow myself to be lacking,
Nay, do thou rather add largeliest increase to boons.
Would but the stars down fall! Could I of my Queen be the hair-lock,
Neighbour to Hydrochois e'en let Oarion shine.

He who scanned all the lights of the great firmament, who ascertained the
rising and the setting of the stars, how the flaming splendour of the swift
sun was endarkened, how the planets disappear at certain seasons, how sweet
love with stealth detaining Trivia beneath the Latmian crags, draws her
away from her airy circuit, that same Conon saw me amongst celestial light,
the hair from Berenice's head, gleaming with brightness, which she
outstretching graceful arms did devote to the whole of the gods, when the
king flushed with the season of new wedlock had gone to lay waste the
Assyrian borders, bearing the sweet traces of nightly contests, in which he
had borne away her virginal spoils. Is Venus abhorred by new-made brides?
Why be the parents' joys turned aside by feigned tears, which they shed
copiously amid the lights of the nuptial chamber? Untrue are their groans,
by the gods I swear! This did my queen teach me by her many lamentings,
when her bridegroom set out for stern warfare. Yet thou didst not mourn the
widowhood of desolate couch, but the tearful separation from a dear
brother? How care made sad inroads in thy very marrow! In so much that
thine whole bosom being agitated, and thy senses being snatched from thee,
thy mind wandered! But in truth I have known thee great of heart ever since
thou wast a little maiden. Hast thou forgotten that noble deed, by which
thou didst gain a regal wedlock, than which none dared other deeds bolder?
Yet what grieving words didst thou speak when bidding thy bridegroom
farewell! Jupiter! as with sad hand often thine eyes thou didst dry! What
mighty god changed thee? Was it that lovers are unwilling to be long absent
from their dear one's body? Then didst thou devote me to the whole of the
gods on thy sweet consort's behalf, not without blood of bullocks, should
he be granted safe return. In no long time he added captive Asia to the
Egyptian boundaries. Wherefore for these reasons I, bestowed 'midst the
celestial host, by a new gift fulfil thine ancient promise. With grief, O
queen, did I quit thy brow, with grief: I swear to thee and to thine head;
fit ill befall whosoever shall swear lightly: but who may bear himself peer
with steel? Even that mountain was swept away, the greatest on earth, over
which Thia's illustrious progeny passed, when the Medes created a new sea,
and the barbarian youth sailed its fleet through the middle of Athos. What
can locks of hair do, when such things yield to iron? Jupiter! may the
whole race of the Chalybes perish, and whoever first questing the veins
'neath the earth harassed its hardness, breaking it through with iron. Just
before severance my sister locks were mourning my fate, when Ethiop
Memnon's brother, the winged steed, beating the air with fluttering
pennons, appeared before Locrian Arsinoe, and this one bearing me up, flies
through aethereal shadows and lays me in the chaste bosom of Venus. Him
Zephyritis herself had dispatched as her servant, a Grecian settler on the
Canopian shores. For 'twas the wish of many gods that not alone in heaven's
light should the golden coronet from Ariadne's temples stay fixed, but that
we also should gleam, the spoils devote from thy golden-yellow head; when
humid with weeping I entered the temples of the gods, the Goddess placed
me, a new star, amongst the ancient ones. For a-touching the Virgin's and
the fierce Lion's gleams, hard by Callisto of Lycaon, I turn westwards
fore-guiding the slow-moving Bootes who sinks unwillingly and late into the
vasty ocean. But although the footsteps of the gods o'erpress me in the
night-tide, and the daytime restoreth me to the white-haired Tethys, (grant
me thy grace to speak thus, O Rhamnusian virgin, for I will not hide the
truth through any fear, even if the stars revile me with ill words yet I
will unfold the pent-up feelings from truthful breast) I am not so much
rejoiced at these things as I am tortured by being for ever parted, parted
from my lady's head, with whom I (though whilst a virgin she was free from
all such cares) drank many a thousand of Syrian scents.

Now do you, whom the gladsome light of the wedding torches hath joined,
yield not your bodies to your desiring husbands nor throw aside your
vestments and bare your bosom's nipples, before your onyx cup brings me
jocund gifts, your onyx, ye who seek the dues of chaste marriage-bed. But
she who giveth herself to foul adultery, may the light-lying dust
responselessly drink her vile gifts, for I seek no offerings from folk that
do ill. But rather, O brides, may concord always be yours, and constant
love ever dwell in your homes. But when thou, O queen, whilst gazing at the
stars, shalt propitiate the goddess Venus with festal torch-lights, let not
me, thine own, be left lacking of unguent, but rather gladden me with large
gifts. Stars fall in confusion! So that I become a royal tress, Orion might
gleam in Aquarius' company.

LXVII.

O dulci iocunda viro, iocunda parenti,
Salve, teque bona Iuppiter auctet ope,
Ianua, quam Balbo dicunt servisse benigne
Olim, cum sedes ipse senex tenuit,
Quamque ferunt rursus voto servisse maligno, 5
Postquam es porrecto facta marita sene.
Dic agedum nobis, quare mutata feraris
In dominum veterem deseruisse fidem.
'Non (ita Caecilio placeam, cui tradita nunc sum)
Culpa meast, quamquam dicitur esse mea, 10
Nec peccatum a me quisquam pote dicere quicquam:
Verum istud populi fabula, Quinte, facit,
Qui, quacumque aliquid reperitur non bene factum,
Ad me omnes clamant: ianua, culpa tuast. '
Non istuc satis est uno te dicere verbo, 15
Sed facere ut quivis sentiat et videat.
'Qui possum? nemo quaerit nec scire laborat. '
Nos volumus: nobis dicere ne dubita.
'Primum igitur, virgo quod fertur tradita nobis,
Falsumst. non illam vir prior attigerit, 20
Languidior tenera cui pendens sicula beta
Numquam se mediam sustulit ad tunicam:
Sed pater illius gnati violasse cubile
Dicitur et miseram conscelerasse domum,
Sive quod inpia mens caeco flagrabat amore, 25
Seu quod iners sterili semine natus erat,
Et quaerendus is unde foret nervosius illud,
Quod posset zonam solvere virgineam. '
Egregium narras mira pietate parentem,
Qui ipse sui gnati minxerit in gremium. 30
Atqui non solum hoc se dicit cognitum habere
Brixia Cycneae supposita speculae,
Flavos quam molli percurrit flumine Mella,
Brixia Veronae mater amata meae.
'Et de Postumio et Corneli narrat amore, 35
Cum quibus illa malum fecit adulterium. '
Dixerit hic aliquis: qui tu isthaec, ianua, nosti?
Cui numquam domini limine abesse licet,
Nec populum auscultare, sed heic suffixa tigillo
Tantum operire soles aut aperire domum? 40
'Saepe illam audivi furtiva voce loquentem
Solam cum ancillis haec sua flagitia,
Nomine dicentem quos diximus, ut pote quae mi
Speraret nec linguam esse nec auriculam.
Praeterea addebat quendam, quem dicere nolo 45
Nomine, ne tollat rubra supercilia.
Longus homost, magnas quoi lites intulit olim
Falsum mendaci ventre puerperium. '

LXVII.

DIALOGUE CONCERNING CATULLUS AT A HARLOT'S DOOR.

_Quintus_.

O to the gentle spouse right dear, right dear to his parent,
Hail, and with increase fair Jupiter lend thee his aid,
Door, 'tis said wast fain kind service render to Balbus
Erst while, long as the house by her old owner was held;
Yet wast rumoured again to serve a purpose malignant, 5
After the elder was stretched, thou being oped for a bride.
Come, then, tell us the why in thee such change be reported
That to thy lord hast abjured faithfulness owed of old?

_Door_.

Never (so chance I to please Caecilius owning me now-a-days! )
Is it my own default, how so they say it be mine; 10
Nor can any declare aught sin by me was committed.
Yet it is so declared (Quintus! ) by fable of folk;
Who, whenever they find things done no better than should be,
Come to me outcrying all:--"Door, the default is thine own! "

_Quintus_.

This be never enough for thee one-worded to utter, 15
But in such way to deal, each and all sense it and see.

_Door_.

What shall I do? None asks, while nobody troubles to know.

_Quintus_.

Willing are we? unto us stay not thy saying to say.

_Door_.

First let me note that the maid to us committed (assert they)
Was but a fraud: her mate never a touch of her had, 20
* * * *
* * * *
But that a father durst dishonour the bed of his firstborn,
Folk all swear, and the house hapless with incest bewray;
Or that his impious mind was blunt with fiery passion 25
Or that his impotent son sprang from incapable seed.
And to be sought was one with nerve more nervous endowed,
Who could better avail zone of the virgin to loose.

_Quintus_.

'Sooth, of egregious sire for piety wondrous, thou tellest,
Who in the heart of his son lief was ----! 30
Yet professed herself not only this to be knowing,
Brixia-town that lies under the Cycnean cliff,
Traversed by Mella-stream's soft-flowing yellow-hued current,
Brixia, Verona's mother, I love for my home.

_Door_.

Eke of Posthumius' loves and Cornelius too there be tattle, 35
With whom dared the dame evil advowtry commit.

_Quintus_.

Here might somebody ask:--"How, Door, hast mastered such matter?
Thou that canst never avail threshold of owner to quit,
Neither canst listen to folk since here fast fixt to the side-posts
Only one office thou hast, shutting or opening the house. " 40

_Door_.

Oft have I heard our dame in furtive murmurs o'er telling,
When with her handmaids alone, these her flagitious deeds,
Citing fore-cited names for that she never could fancy
Ever a Door was endow'd either with earlet or tongue.
Further she noted a wight whose name in public to mention 45
Nill I, lest he upraise eyebrows of carroty hue;
Long is the loon and large the law-suit brought they against him
Touching a child-bed false, claim of a belly that lied.

_Catullus_.

O dear in thought to the sweet husband, dear in thought to his sire, hail!
and may Jove augment his good grace to thee, Door! which of old, men say,
didst serve Balbus benignly, whilst the oldster held his home here; and
which contrariwise, so 'tis said, didst serve with grudging service after
the old man was stretched stark, thou doing service to the bride. Come,
tell us why thou art reported to be changed and to have renounced thine
ancient faithfulness to thy lord?

_Door_.

No, (so may I please Caecilius to whom I am now made over! ) it is not my
fault, although 'tis said so to be, nor may anyone impute any crime to me;
albeit the fabling tongues of folk make it so, who, whene'er aught is found
not well done, all clamour at me: "Door, thine is the blame! "

_Catullus_.

It is not enough for thee to say this by words merely, but so to act that
everyone may feel it and see it.

_Door_.

In what way can I? No one questions or troubles to know.

_Catullus_.

We are wishful: be not doubtful to tell us.

_Door_.

First then, the virgin (so they called her! ) who was handed to us was
spurious. Her husband was not the first to touch her, he whose little
dagger, hanging more limply than the tender beet, never raised itself to
the middle of his tunic: but his father is said to have violated his son's
bed and to have polluted the unhappy house, either because his lewd mind
blazed with blind lust, or because his impotent son was sprung from sterile
seed, and therefore one greater of nerve than he was needed, who could
unloose the virgin's zone.

_Catullus_.

Thou tellest of an excellent parent marvellous in piety, who himself urined
in the womb of his son!

_Door_.

But not this alone is Brixia said to have knowledge of, placed 'neath the
Cycnean peak, through which the golden-hued Mella flows with its gentle
current, Brixia, beloved mother of my Verona. For it talks of the loves of
Postumius and of Cornelius, with whom she committed foul adultery.

_Catullus_.

Folk might say here: "How knowest thou these things, O door? thou who art
never allowed absence from thy lord's threshold, nor mayst hear the folk's
gossip, but fixed to this beam art wont only to open or to shut the house! "

_Door_.

Often have I heard her talking with hushed voice, when alone with her
handmaids, about her iniquities, quoting by name those whom we have spoken
of, for she did not expect me to be gifted with either tongue or ear.
Moreover she added a certain one whose name I'm unwilling to speak, lest he
uplift his red eyebrows. A lanky fellow, against whom some time ago was
brought a grave law-suit anent the spurious child-birth of a lying belly.